


Keep Your Doors and Windows Locked, You Never Know Who Is On The Other Side

by Sun_Spark



Category: Creepypasta - Fandom, Darkfic - Fandom, Horror - Fandom, Mystery - Fandom
Genre: Angst, Anxiety, Attempted Assault, Attempted Murder, College, Creeper, Creepypasta, Darkfic, Dorms, Gen, Genderfluid Character, Horror, Mild Language, Mystery, No Blood, No Gore, OCD, Other, Psychological Horror, Religious Fanaticism, Sisters, Stalking, University, Witches, captain america would not be pleased
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 09:00:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29399445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sun_Spark/pseuds/Sun_Spark
Summary: A first-person POV, recounting of a creepypasta story. Thea and her sister Aly are Juniors at University, three weeks into the semester, Thea finds some things in her room disturbed and a pointed threatening message in the destruction of her work. Over the following week, an unknown entity repeatedly appears in the early hours of the morning, attempting to break into the room where she and Aly have taken refuge. With no recourse, and unable to realistically leave the campus or the dorms, Aly and Thea attempted to keep each other safe and figure out who the hell is screwing with them.





	Keep Your Doors and Windows Locked, You Never Know Who Is On The Other Side

People on this site always love spooky stories, and I do too, but believe me, they are not so fun in real life. I’d imagine many of you are in your twenties, like me, so college will be a familiar setting for many of you. I’ve graduated now, but I’ll tell you what happened in my dorms that made me decide the hour’s commute to class was more than worth it and caused me to move back home with my parents. For everyone’s anonymity, I will be altering our names slightly – Same first letter, but different.

Normally when people have disturbing things happen to them at college, it’s in their first freshman semester – a combination of being away from home for the first real time, the unfamiliar setting, and overworked nerves as their imaginations run wild amidst all the new experiences. That was not the case for me however, my creepy encounters took a bit longer.

Now don't get the wrong idea, my first semester in the dorms was not exactly a picnic, I’ll tell you that. Being the overachiever whose identity and self-value was - at the time - hung on being a good student, I made the slightly dumb decision to join honors. Thank the stars I grew out of tying my worth to grades, but I digress. That first year myself and all my fellow over-smart-idiots were related to a dorm building that was set away from the rest, and too far away from campus. To this day, many of us suspected that our isolation and grinding schedule was part of someone's experiment. The four-story, circular building they stuck us in had a hollow center pierced by a branching staircase – Everything echoed. It was creepy but nowhere near as bad as the walk to campus. I hope you like long walks on desolate sidewalks with security lights set too far apart to illuminate anything - it was a regular thriller setting. The distance and dark were not fun on my anxiety. The roommate who stayed up until 4 am watching movies without headphones - even during finals week - didn’t help either, but it was relatively normal, all things considered.

No, all the messed up shit happened my Junior year. Upperclassmen were moved to a different dorm closer to campus, opening our former building to the new year of teens getting in over their heads. We were still sequestered together, even when we requested specifics rooms or floors the administration reassigned us so all LEAD and Honors Students were stuck together. Our walk was better though, it was much shorter, but we traded the dark sidewalk for a wooden bridge through a swap. Lovely. At this point, though, most of us were desensitized to the horror-movie walkways. As upperclassmen, we got our own rooms, even though we had to share a suite comprised of a tiny kitchenette, two bathrooms, and four individual rooms with three other people.

Mine was the room farthest to the right and my sister, Aly, inhabited the room next to mine, and we shared one of the two bathrooms, so much of the time we didn’t interact with the other two girls. They were nice, I think. Our suitemates were Ginette - a petite, black-haired bio-med student who was friendly but quiet, and Alice – a tall brunette English major who was shy but polite. Both had friends in and out at all hours, but they were people we recognized – by face but not name – from the same hall as us. They didn't bother us, so we ignored them. Now I can pracically hear the highschoolers telling me that college is the time to make friends and have fun, but trust me, that takes way too much energy. We weren’t friends with our suitemates, but we got along, trading pleasantries when we crossed paths. That being said, Ginette had taken to staring at Aly and I with a strange and unnerving expression the week before everything went sideways, but we brushed it off as a weird quirk she had.

Aly and I settled into a routine rather quickly. Wake p, go to classes, get food from the cafe, come back to the dorms, do homework, stay up too late binging shows to unwind, go to bed - Repeat. We came and went, careful not to slam the doors or be too loud on nights when our insomnia hit, and our suitemates returned the favor. It was nice, normal, until about three weeks had gone by.

I came back to my dorm from my last class of the day about mid-afternoon, looking forward to washing off the obligatory sweat sauna from Florida’s humid heat, putting on some comfy clothes, and relaxing with some stupid YouTube or Netflix show for a few hours before starting on my homework. My plans were sidetracked, however, when I stepped into my small room and saw the curtain covering my closet space open and a bag I rarely used sitting beside my bed rather than under it. Now for most people that would barely raise curiosity, but I have OCD, and while it tends to latch onto things like locking the doors at night or showering when I get home for the day instead of obsessive cleaning, there are some things that I just do without thinking. For instance, I always pulled the curtain closed and put both of my messenger bag and backpack under the bed. I dropped the shoulder bag I was using that day by the door and pulled my headphones down around my neck, brows furrowing as I scanned the closet cubby’s contents. 

My shoes were never organized so my gaze moved swiftly past them to the clothes themselves. The ones hanging on the right didn’t seem any different, however, the side-by-side stacks in the hanging organizer were disheveled, which I was fairly sure I hadn’t done, but other than an uneasy feeling in my gut, I wasn't panicking yet. Turning to the backpack I rarely used currently sitting next to my bed, I saw that it was open and it seemed that the books and folders I kept stored in it were messier than normal. While all of this caused me agitation – on account of my OCD not liking it when people moved things without my knowledge – I didn’t freak out at that point.

Since my sister and I didn’t share a schedule, but we tended to cohabitate between our two rooms, leaving our doors mostly shut but turning the deadbolt so the doors didn't latch. That way the other could come and go as she pleased. However, since we share our OCD we always made sure to put things back where they went. Still, I didn't do more than frown in annoyance. Since we shared some classes, it made sense that Aly may have needed a book, and since half the clothes in my closet were hers anyway, she knew she was welcome to go through them. I figured maybe she had just been in a rush and had forgotten to put things back as they should be. With that thought solidifying in my mind, I resolved to ask her that evening and put the incident out of my mind. I replaced the bag, shut the curtain, and went about taking my shower before switching between YouTube and my research paper until Aly came back in the evening.

I didn’t ask her about it right away, since I was fairly sure it had been her it wasn’t that important. We talked for a bit before going downstairs to the grill for dinner - a tiny restaurant grill set in the back of our small food store. By the time I thought of it again we had settled on my bed for the next episode of Supernatural.

“Hey Al, did you leave my closet open and my bag on the floor earlier?” I was so sure it had been her that I hadn’t even bothered to look away from the screen as I asked it nonchalantly. Her silence made me look up though, and I saw her staring at me with a frown and furrowed brows.

“No. I didn’t.” I stared at her half in disbelief – not disbelieving her, but hesitating to put together what exactly it meant if she hadn’t been the one to do it. Seeing my gaze, her hands came up defensively. “I swear Thea, I didn’t get anything from your room today.”

I shook my head quickly, “No, no. I believe you. It’s just weird.” Aly raised a brow at me, and knowing that we both have anxiety and would often imagine the worst-case scenario, I could guess what her next words would be. Sure enough, she voiced what my thoughts were saying: “You think someone was going through your stuff?” I shook my head. “No, that doesn’t make much sense either. Neither Ginette nor Alice would – I mean, we don’t know them that well, but we know them well enough to say that they wouldn’t go through our shit. Alice does have a lot of friends in and out of her room, but I don’t think any of them would either. Besides, even though our doors are left cracked, someone would have to get through the locked suite door first.” I shook my head again with a wry grin. “We were in a rush this morning, I probably did it and forgot about it.” I chuckled and Aly grinned at me, “Wouldn’t be the first time.”

We forgot about it easily and returned to staying up far too late to watch our show. The explanation was enough to sway both my anxiety and OCD, after all, how many times had that off feeling in the back of my brain simply been my anxiety disorder? I shouldn’t have put it out of my mind so easily though.

Four days later, when the incident was thoroughly forgotten, I stepped out from a long shower and found my desk drawer open – It was only a crack, but given that I literally hit my hip on it, I noticed. My habit of bruising my leg on the sharp corners was the entire reason the darn thing was always closed. 

"Ack! Fuc-!” Discarding the towel I had been using for my hair on the bed, I examined the forming red welt on my pale skin. Yep, that was gonna bruise badly. "Son of a bit-" I muttered as I went to slam the drawer shut. Noticing the contents made me pause though, bringing back that uneasy gut feeling from days before. Normally there were two black sketchbooks stacked in the back of the small space, a tray of colored pencils, a bag of markers, and a tin of charcoal laid side by side in the front. Today, however, one of my sketchbooks was haphazardly thrown on top of everything. Now that, I knew I hadn’t done.

With a sour pit settling deep in my stomach, my rational mind raced to reassure my worries, telling me that it was just my heightened anxiety and nothing worse. Those thoughts stopped abruptly when I placed the book on the desk and opened it to the first drawing. I chill ran through me as I saw what had become of my work. 

This piece was a cartoon-horror drawing depicting a young girl from the shoulders up. Her eyes were whited out, the skin on the top half of her face peeled back to reveal the bone - I hadn’t added blood through as I was going for cartoony and not gore – a headband tied in a large bow sat atop her beautiful curls, which had been the focus of this exercise. Marring the piece was a thick black line of marker striking through the girls’ eyes. All rational excuses ended in a second as my anxiety flew into high gear, rage settling in my chest that someone would destroy my artwork.

Quickly I flipped through the rest of the drawings, only to find similar disfigurations to the rest of my work. My drawing of Artemis had the eyes messily blacked out; Lady Athena and Medusa had a large ‘X’ through them with the same large black marker; The Ying and Yan formed from the Lunar and Solar cycles was destroyed with mindless scribbles; The medieval sorceress in the forest with starlight held in her hands was covered in so much blackness the drawing could barely be seen anymore. The last piece was arguably the worst though: It was a self-portrait meant to reflect the two sides of my gender expression, but undeniably 'me' in both halves. The eyes were destroyed with scribbles, there was a long gash across the portrait's throat, and mindless, angry marks covered the entire expanse of the page. Along with messily scrawled words such as _'infidel', 'sinner', 'animal, ' tranny', 'bitch', and many more.'_

I stepped back from my desk, shock mingling quickly with revulsion. “What the fucking hell?!” As I stood straight, my eyes caught on something reflective on the ground, almost hidden behind my desk. Craning my neck to get a better look, I saw the shattered remains of several crystals and a glance up to my windowsill confirmed that the eight crystals I kept there were missing. I turned quickly to scan the room, anxiety and hypervigilance pushing me to check for a threat even though I already knew there was nothing there. The window was shut, nothing under the bed, the closet could fit a person, no one at the closed door, and nowhere else to hide. 

My panic ebbed a bit, but I didn’t calm, anger, shock, and a healthy dose of fear mingled in my core, fight or flight sending adrenaline flying through my veins. My mind quickly flew through my options – Campus Police, the building aids, walking the long hallways back to the welcome desk, my sister…My sister was at the grill getting us both lunch. I needed someone to balance my panic right now, she would help me rationalize. I turned on my heel and grabbed my phone, sending off a text with too many typos due to my shaking hands: _‘Grt up herw rift the fixl niw.’_ Her reply came back a moment later, unconcerned. _‘Lol, what? XD’_ I couldn’t fault her for that, we were often excited and cursed far too often in our texts. My message wouldn’t have been out of place if I had found out something new about one of our shows. I took a deep breath and willed my hands to still as a typed a second message: _‘Come back to the room right fucking now. Someone was here.’_

Her reply only took a second this time, _‘Are you okay’_ The lack of punctuation betrayed how freaked she must be, my sister loved her exclamation points. I quickly sent back a single word reply, _‘yes’_ and I slipped my phone in my pocket, knowing Aly would be back in less than five minutes. Unable to be still, both my heartbeat and my senses jacked through the roof due to adrenaline, my eyes began scanning the room almost wildly. I don’t know if I was actually searching for anything, but search I did. My eyes caught on the combination of dust and hair bunnies behind the door. They annoyed me, but my OCD and cleanliness issues had learned to deal with them since my sister shed worse than a huskie - sweep every day and there will still be hair behind the door. I started to look away, but something about the spot dragged my eyes back. 

_‘What the hell?’_ , I remember thinking that as I knelt down to get a closer look, why would these normal hairs be tugging at my brain like this. Swallowing past my disgust, I pick a few up and studied them. My whole body went cold as I took in what was wrong with them. My sister was blonde. My hair was constantly changing colors, but it had been blue for the past two months. These hairs were black. _‘Shit. Fucking shit, what the hell?!’_

A knock sounded at the door, jarring me out of my chaotic internal thoughts and time slowed as my mind focusing every overextended sense on the door in wariness. “Thea! Open the door!” Reality began to move at a regular speed again as I heard Aly’s voice on the other side of the wood. “Shit.” I muttered to myself as I stood up and opened the door, letting her push past me and inside. I shut it behind her and locked it, like hell I was taking a chance at having our backs exposed. She stood in the center of my room, completing the same wild, anxiety-fueled scan of her surroundings as I had before that searching gaze looked me over. She settled considerably when nothing jumped out at her as wrong. Slumping against my bed she caught her breath from what I assumed had been a mad run to our suite, given how quickly she had gotten here.

She pinned me with a look, sill alarmed but also annoyed. “What the hell Thea?”

I gave her a grim look as I walked back to the desk, gesturing at the pages. “Someone was in here, My crystals have all been smashed on the floor, and they left the drawer to my desk open with my book thrown in messily, they deface everything in here.” Aly was at my side in a breath, flipping through the pages of my destroyed work. I saw her expression shift from confusion to shock and then to worry with each page she turned. As she came to the last page, the portrait of me, horror crossed her features. “What the fuck?!”

It was quiet but fierce, and I couldn’t help but snort. I’d always had a habit of laughing when I shouldn’t. “Yeah, that’s kind of what I said.” She turned to me and I held up the hairs I was still holding. “These were behind the door. They’re black, Al.” Her eyes widened as she stared at them. 

We stood like that for a heartbeat, two, and then she was moving, the lock turned and the door open before I could blink. “Son of a bitch.” I spat quietly to myself, following after her. Aly was hotheaded and fiercely protective with a short fuse, and by the time I had taken the dozen steps to catch up with her, she was already banging on Ginette’s door. As the confused girl opened her door, staring at us with curiosity and annoyance, I quickly jumped in before Aly could say something too strong. “Hey Ginette, sorry to bother you like this.”

Aly threw me an annoyed look but kept quiet – We were often each other’s control mechanism so we didn’t go too far, I was as hotheaded as her after all, so as much as she looked like she wanted to cuss our suitemate out, she let me do the talking. Ginette, for her part, stared at my sister with annoyance for a handful of seconds before her gaze turned to me. “Right…What is it?”

I sighed, trying to pick my words carefully. “Look, Ginette,” I met her gaze squarely, expression as neutral as I could manage. “I have very little doubt that the answer to this is going to be anything but ‘no’, but we need to check, and I almost hope you say yes .” Her gaze had turned to bewilderment, and internally part of me found this whole situation ridiculous – We barely talked, and now it sounded like we were staging an intervention. “Someone got in my room, they vandalized a lot of my artwork – some of it very obviously targeted at me – and they left black hairs behind. Now as much as I doubt you would do that, we are locked in a suite, so I have to ask – Did you?”

Her expression had gone slack in horror, apparently, the situation was bad enough she forgot to be mad or defensive. “Oh my god! No, I didn’t. Do you have any idea who did?”

I sighed and shook my head. “No, I don’t.” I discretely nudged Aly so she would stop glaring at the girl suspiciously. “But we’re going to talk to dorm security and hopefully get it cleared up.”

She gave me a small, sympathetic smile mixed with a grimace. “Well, I hope they can figure it out. I’d offer to help, but Gina and I will be going home tomorrow to spend the weekend for Mom’s birthday.” Behind her, sitting on the bed was a near carbon copy of the girl in front of us, watching on apathetically without comment. I spared her a brief tilt of my head in acknowledgment. Gina’s gaze had strayed to the door on her right, and she continued. “Alice is gone too, and won’t be back for a few days.” Her gaze turned back to us. “So it’s going to be just you two. Will you be alright?”

I nodded and Aly spoke up, distinctly less hostile now, but obviously still suspicious. “Yeah. I’ll move into Thea’s room until security does something.” It was a warning as much as it was a friendly answer. I almost rolled my eyes, but I appreciated her protectiveness. 

I said goodbye to Ginette without preamble and pulled Aly away, back to my room. Once there I stopped and took stock of the situation while Aly questioned me. “So, dorm security?” I nodded. “Yeah. Technically it’s campus police, so we’d better call them instead of walking, but yes.” I pulled out my phone and started to look up the number when a thought struck me and I frowned, glancing up at my sister. “Is your room open?”

“Shit.” With that eloquent response, Aly turned around and made for her room. “Hold on.” I called and she paused, waiting for me. Slipping my phone back into my pocket, and reached under my pillows pulling out the pocket knife I most certainly was not supposed to have on campus, folding it behind my wrist where it would be easy to open in a hurry. “You have your taser on you?” Aly shook her head, “No, it’s in my room.” I nodded and stepped up beside her. “Alright. When you open the door, don’t go in. If there is someone, I want them to come to us. If there is, the priority is to get back in my room and lock the door, okay?”

Aly nodded and we moved towards her door, seeing that it was indeed still cracked open. Aly looked back at me and I flipped the blade open, angling it so I was holding the hilt backward, blade hidden behind my arm. I nodded at her. She pushed the door open and stepped back next to me in a single motion. I scanned the room quickly but didn’t see anything. Unlike me, Aly didn’t keep much in her room beyond bedding, a few clothes, and her books. Most of her personal things were at the apartment Mark – her fiancé – and she had gotten together. Come the end of this semester, she was moving there with him. Without the clutter of my room, there was absolutely nowhere someone could hide – We could see the entire underside of the raised bed, the underside of the desk, and the closet space. Nothing. We relaxed slightly and I closed the knife, slipping it into my waistband and pulling my shirt down to hide it. We stepped inside and I lingered with my back to the doorframe so I could see both the suite and her room, while Aly stepped inside to scan her belongings.

“Anything missing?” I called to her. She rifled through a few drawers and her bag before shaking her head. “No. Whoever it was only went into your room.” I nodded again, feeling slightly better that whoever had messed with my crap hadn’t also gone after my sister. “Okay.”

We stood there for a moment, letting the adrenaline rush lower before I pulled my phone out again. “Security?” Aly asked me, and I gave a quick ‘Yep’, as I imputed the number and hit call.

A kindly sounding man answered and I quickly relayed what had happened, asking for a pair of their officers to come to the room to appraise the situation. The man’s tone turned serious as he told me that two of the officers assigned to the building were being called to our room, while one of their higher up’s would be there in a few minutes from their office across campus. He inquired about who was there and our current safety, and I assured him that my sister was with me and that whoever had been there was no longer in the suite to our knowledge, as both our suitemate’s rooms were shut. 

He stayed on the line with me until campus police knocked on the suite door and identified themselves. Two kindly men checked over our suite, including the other girls’ rooms, but ultimately determined that there was no one inside and that there were no signs of forced entry that they could find. My door could be easily explained, given that I left it open while I showered, but they were concerned about the suite door. They had an IT guy come up and he checked the lock – It was working fine, so they assumed it must not have latched properly. I relayed the story again for their boss when he showed up, him taking notes while the others asked our neighboring suites if they had seen anything. Ultimately, they couldn’t find any clues as to who had done it – My father had commented on the lack of cameras past the lobby when I had moved in, and now I found myself silently agreeing with him. With no security footage, no witnesses, and no signs of forced entry, there wasn’t much they could do. After we assured them that we would be staying together in one room and locking everything up, they left. Due to the nature of the incident, police would be notified and we were told to expect law enforcement to contact us in the next few days. All told, their visit – though thorough – only took about half an hour, and then we were alone.

Aly attempted to relieve the silence and the stress with a joke, grinning at me. “Well, I’m pretty sure we’ve seen this movie half a dozen times, so we know what to expect!” I grinned at her, choosing to find what humor there was in this situation now that the adrenaline was had faded. “Guess that makes me the final girl and you the sidekick, better watch out Al!” We shared a laugh but quickly turned serious again.

“You’re staying in my room?” She nodded. “Yep, I’ll drag my mattress to your floor like we’ve done before.” I returned her nod, turning back towards my room to make sure the floor was clear. I hesitated before I started clearing the space and cleaning up the shards of crystal, after a moment’s debate, I took out my phone and started snapping pictures, just in case. I also placed the hairs in a Ziplock bag, storing them in my desk drawer along with the ruined sketchbook. I’d give those to the police, I decided, if they needed or wanted them. When Aly had moved her mattress and bedding into my room, laying them alongside my bed while still leaving me enough room to get up and down from the raised platform, I addressed her again.

“Bring your knife and taser in here with you, then check your window and lock your door. Better safe than sorry.” She voiced her agreement and moved to do as I had suggested. After that, there wasn’t really anything left to do. We went back down to the little shop and grill to get something to eat, resolving to stay together as much as possible until this situation was over for safety. I made sure my door and the door to the suite were locked when we left. 

While we waited for the food we ordered, I glanced around the store. Since the hour was much later than most students got dinner, the shop was mostly empty. Private enough, I decided, and so, letting my sister know to grab my food too, I bit the looming bullet and called our parents. My mother was worried and asked many times if we wouldn’t come home for a few days. We couldn’t really do that given our hectic class schedule that ranged from 10 in the morning to 11 at night though, so I assured her and my father both that campus security and the police were taking care of it, and that Aly and I would be safe staying together until this was over. My father offered to come sleep outside our door, school regulations be damned. 6 foot 200 pound Texan with a background in hard labor and the extremely serious personality that he was, I knew he wasn’t kidding, but I also knew that he couldn’t afford to lose several days of work, so I told him not to, promising to check in with them several times a day instead.

Nothing happened for the next three days, but Aly and I’s nerves were definitely a little shot due to the constant hypervigilance. 

I had almost convinced myself it was a one-time affair by the time the next thing happened. Monday night, near 2 AM as Aly and I had just been in bed for a little over 30 minutes after watching another one of our shows – Sabrina this time – I was roused from my near-sleep state by a noise that I couldn’t place. It was a clicking noise, but not like a clock ticking away, more like a tiny gear trying to turn and catching on something. I wasn’t sure how long it had been going by the time it caught my attention and began to irritate me. 

Fully awake now, I scanned what of the room I could see without moving, not wanting to alert any unwelcome presence. Nothing. There was light shining through the window from the security lights, and in the dim illumination, I couldn’t see anything or anyone out of place. I sat up as quietly as I could and looked down at Aly to see her sleeping soundly in her bed. So it wasn’t her phone or her making the noise, a glance down beside my pillow confirmed that it wasn’t my phone either. _‘What the hell?’_ There wasn’t anything in my room that would be making the noise, was it Ginette, seeing as she had come back earlier today? It wasn’t like her to make noise at night, she was usually near paranoid about disturbing anyone else.

My eyes strayed to my door, confirming that it was shut tight. As my eyes fell back towards the ground to continue their search, however, I saw a bit of yellowish light peeking out from beneath the door. Now, it’s important for you to know something: Our suite had motion sensor lights in the main area, and we couldn’t shut them off. For that reason, there was a small blanket I had gotten to cover the gap underneath the door so anytime someone got up to use the bathroom or whatever the light wouldn’t disturb me or Aly if she was in my room. The left side of that blanket wasn’t quite covering the gap, and I could see light shining through the opening. I thought I could see something shadowy shifting through the tiny opening.

My blood ran cold and a sick feeling settled in my gut like a heavy stone when I finally identified the noise. My door handle, locked electronically and backed up by the deadbolt I’d turned before laying down was wiggling ever so slightly, in time with the noises. _Click._ Wiggle. _Click._ Wiggle. _Click._ Wiggle. 

I froze, barely breathing as I tried not to make any sound, my mind racing to figure out what I should do. If they couldn’t open the door – which it seemed they couldn’t – then whoever it was couldn’t hurt us. Unless they had a gun, but they likely would have used that by now, and it would draw attention. If they couldn’t open the door, I sure as hell wasn’t going to do it for them. Should I call the campus police? That would make noise, and I didn’t want to alert whoever it was that we were here or that I was awake, unsure how that would change the situation. My thoughts turned briefly to Ginette, worry for her safety flooding me, but I didn’t have her number so I couldn’t text her. I just hoped she wouldn’t leave her room. I hadn’t made a decision when the noises stopped abruptly. Part of me wanted to go look under the door, but my bed creaked horribly when I got off of it, so I decided against it. I didn’t hear a door, but after a few moments the light shut off. Sensitive as it was, when it didn’t turn back on, I dismissed the idea that whoever it was was still out there.

I didn’t sleep that night. When Aly woke the next morning I told her what had happened. 

“Why the hell didn’t you wake me?!” I gave her a sheepish shrug. “I didn’t want to make any noise. By the time I had thought through my options, whoever it was had already left.” She shook her head with a scowl but didn’t disagree with me. We might have skipped classes that day, and truthfully we wanted to, but we both had midterm tests so it wasn’t really an option. So I did my best to put it out of my mind. I’m not proud to admit that we didn’t call security, but by the time we thought to do so it was already late and I decided I’d call in the morning. We were exhausted and went to bed early – well early for a college Junior, so 11:45 PM – but neither of us slept well. I’m fairly sure we were both constantly on the edge of sleep but too stuck in a state of vigilance to actually fall that last little bit into unconsciousness. We didn’t talk, didn’t get on our phones, didn’t do anything but lay there in the dark, senses straining for anything out of place and mutually aware of our paranoia.

The clicking sound flooded the room again near 1 AM. We were both sitting up in a second, silent as our eyes met, confirming that the other was hearing it too and neither of us was imagining it. I saw Aly grab the taser that had been lying next to her bed, and I followed suit, my hand curling around the blade under my pillow and drawing it out. Silently, we stared at the door, debating what to do.

This time I chose to risk it. As quietly as I could I climbed down from the bed, using my desk as a stepping stone so my weight didn’t hit the floor. The metal frame of my bed made a small creak, but though it made me wince it was not enough to make the clicking nose stop.

Aly eyed me warily, waiting to see what I was doing. I held a finger up to my lips, gesturing for her to stay quiet, and received a nod in response. Quietly, she pulled her blankets back and rose to stand by the end of my bed, a few feet from the door, taser in hand. I turned back to the door in question and took a moment to gather my courage. I doubted it would be wise to open it, but I wanted some clue as to who the hell was doing this to me, and by extension Aly. Praying my horrid joints didn’t crack, I knelt by the door and slowly, carefully pulled the blanket away, letting the light from underneath the door flood in. Using the blanket as a sound cushion, I leaned onto my hands and peeked beneath the door, staying far enough back that anything thrust through the gap would not hit me. I saw a pair of grey and blue slip-on sneakers, too big for a child but quite small, on the other side. I moved a little closer, trying to see the person’s ankle so I could at least see their skin color, hoping for a clue. All I could see was a pair of polka-dot socks. I cursed to myself, not daring to voice my complaints.

Slowly, silently, I moved back from the door and stood, taking the place next to my sister. She eyed me curiously and gestured towards the door. I pulled out my phone, glad I kept all of its sounds from alerts to typing silent and opened my texts. First I typed out a question, holding it out to her instead of texting it: _“Is your phone on silent?”_ Brows furrowed, she picked the device up from her bed and checked the settings, nodding to me after a tense second. I deleted the first message and typed out a second one: _“Grey and blue sneakers. Polka-dot socks. Can’t see skin. Small, probably a smaller woman?”_

I hit send and put my phone down, gesturing towards hers to let her know I had texted her. It only took a few seconds to go through and I could tell by her expression when she had read it. The silent vibration in my hand alerted me to her reply. 

_A; “Fuck. Do we open the door?”_

_T: “We don’t know if they’re armed. If they can’t get in, we’re safer here.”_

_A: “Call the police or security?”_

_T: “I don’t want to alert them that we are awake. That may make them change tactics. Can we text the police, is that a thing?”_

_A: “I don’t know, I can try?”_

I saw her typing something else, but my phone didn’t buzz so I assumed she was trying the police. Her scowl a few moments later told me what I needed to know before her text did. 

_A: “No luck.”_

Neither of us did anything for a few moments, startling as we heard the clicking of the doorknob turn to an almost angry rattling as if the unknown person was getting impatient and frustrated. A buzz alerted me to a new text from Aly. _“I’m going to put my phone under the door and try to get a picture of them.”_

My eyes came up from the screen to meet hers, seeing determination, anger, and fear mixing in their depths. I nodded at her, typing out a final message. _“Be careful. Try not to get their attention. Make sure camera is silent too.”_

She only gave me a nod when she had read it, and in a few breaths, she had taken my previous position by the door. Carefully, she set the phone on the ground, screen up and front camera open. Slowly, she inched it under the door until just the camera was past the barrier. As she snapped a few pictures, I watched, my breath frozen in my throat, carefully readjusting my grip on the open blade in my hand over and over again out of nervousness.

The rattling stopped before Aly was done, and she quickly pulled the phone away and moved back from the door, alarm on her features. I moved closer to her defensively, eyes glued to the now terrifying board of yellowed wood before us. Before she was even standing at my side and holding the taser again, I heard the soft squeaking I knew to be the rubber soles of sneakers on tile, fading away from us. The sound of a door opening and softly shutting followed, but I could not tell if it was to the hallway or another room in our suite.

Impulsively, I moved to the door and opened it a crack before Aly could stop me. Seeing no one there, I opened it just wide enough to see the majority of the suite. No one. Aly was at my back now, a quiet curse falling from her lips. I glanced back at her, perhaps out of anxiety, perhaps for confirmation, I don’t really know. I opened the door and stepped out, my knife held firmly in a reverse grip and my arm ready to either block a blow or strike one myself.

The suite was empty. I gestured at Aly to stay where she was and made my way to the main door, my eyes scanning the two bathroom doors and the other three room doors, all closed. My heart was pounding in my throat, having long vacated my chest, and I took a deep breath to steady myself. If I was going to do this, it needed to be now, before whoever it was could be out of sight. Feet set in a defensive stance I had not used since I quit martial arts three years ago, I opened the hall door.

I saw no one, and stepping half out the doorway confirmed that the long hallway, which ended in a window ten feet to my left and extended at least two dozen feet to my right before turning a corner were both empty. Either they were fast, or they were still inside the suite. The latter thought gripped my chest in terror, my survival instincts screaming at me to do something – run or hide, fight or scream for help. My protective instincts won out though, urging me back to my sister’s side, shutting the hall door firmly behind me. It had no deadbolt, but I knew the electronic lock wouldn’t open without one of the four keys to this suite, or the override key, unless it was broken.

Aly had stayed in my doorway, so I knew there was no chance of anyone having entered the room when we left. Gently but urgently, I pushed her back inside, following her and closing the door, turning the deadbolt. Flippin the light on, I quickly brought her up to speed. “All the doors in the suite are closed, so they could be in one of the bathrooms. I couldn’t see anyone in the hall, so if they went out, they’re fast as hell.”

Aly held her phone up and flipped through a few screens before moving to my side and holding the device where we could both see it. “I got something, but it’s not very useful.” The screen revealed the tops of polka-dot socks, dark leggings, and a dark blue hoodie. Though we could tell the hood was pulled up, we couldn’t see the face. There was no skin revealed in the camera frame, but there was the smallest bit of hair. I pointed to it. “Black hair. Same as I found in my room when my drawings were destroyed. I can’t tell the sex of the creep because of the hoodie, but based on the general size and some shape, I’d say it’s likely a woman or a very short guy who somehow wears leggings that don’t outline anything.” 

Aly angled the screen back towards her, scanning the photo and the other few she’d taken, a scowl on her face. “There are no identifying marks on the clothes, and none of these other pictures give a clearer view.” I nodded solemnly as I took a step away, pulling my own phone from my pocket, and started inputting a number. At Aly’s curious gaze I told her, “I’m calling campus police. They can get here faster than the city police and will likely alert them for us.” I hit call and quickly identified myself as the student who had called three days ago, relaying the situation.

There were four campus police this time, and as per the instructions from the dispatcher that we were to stay where we were, they didn’t knock this time but used the front desk’s override key. They identified themselves when they reached my door, and I cracked it enough to see that they were indeed who they claimed before opening it fully. One officer stood at my door, another at the suite door, and the other two were already checking the bathrooms and knocking on the other three doors.

“One of our suitemates isn’t here, and the room next to mine is my sisters.” I told them, gesturing to Aly when I mentioned her.” The officer turned to relay the information to the others, receiving acknowledgments from them as he turned back to us. He identified himself as Officer Bailey and asked us to step into the suite once the all-clear had been called from the others. We did so, and told them of the night's events, showing them the photos Aly had taken and describing the shoes to them. “I don’t know how much that will help you, but it’s all we could see.” I told them. Officer Bailey agreed that they didn’t help much, but had Aly email them to the office’s email address just in case.

While we talked to Officer Bailey, I saw another officer talking with Ginette, and I took note of what she was wearing. Black leggings, a white T-Shirt, and slippers that covered any socks she may be wearing. She looked as if she had just been woken up. Though I filed the information away in the back of my mind, I didn’t think she had anything to do with it. But I was curious how anyone had gotten through our suite door. I saw Aly watching the girl too, and I figured she was having much the same thoughts.

Officer Bailey informed us that there wasn’t much they could do, but local police would be called in the morning, and they were going to have someone come check the suite door’s lock as soon as possible. An officer would stay outside our suite for the night, just in case – An Officer Jennings got that task, and Aly offered to make him some coffee. He refused but thanked her.

We were alone after that, returning to my room after a brief discussion with Ginette – She had wanted to know what happened and make sure that we were okay. We said our goodnights to her and locked ourselves in my small quarters once again. We didn’t say anything at first, processing everything that had just happened. Finally, Aly summed it up eloquently: “Fuck T. What the absolute shit?”

A chuckle escaped me at that, and I sunk to the floor with my back against the wall separating my bed from my closet. I rubbed my hands over my face, weariness taking hold as my adrenaline crashed for the second night in a row. “I don’t know Sis, what the fuck indeed.”

“You know,” She began, and I looked up at her, seeing the slight grimace on her features. “We have to call Mom and Dad, and we’ll be lucky if Dad doesn’t show up with one of his many guns.”

I looked up at her and grinned. “Nah, he’d want the satisfaction of using his hands, besides, he knows if he gets arrested for bringing a weapon on campus, he can’t do anything.” The smallest pillow from my bed came flying at me and I caught it laughing. “That’s not the point and you know it you brat!” Aly was laughing too now, relief overtaking us both and making us a bit giddy.

“I know.” We paused again, and I pulled my phone out, staring at it hesitantly. “Fuck.” I started dialing, looking up at Aly as I did. “That coffee offer extend to us?” She nodded, heading for our small kitchen to fix us a caffeine boost. I moved to my open doorway so I could keep an eye on her, sinking back down to sit against the frame.

The phone only rang a few times before my mother’s voice filled my ear. “Thea? Are you two okay, did something happen?” I cursed silently. Neither of my parents were nervous people, and our jokes about my father were slightly exaggerated – slightly -, but I didn’t have the energy for this discussion. “Hey Mom. First, we’re alright. Yes something happened, but we’re safe…” I proceeded to fill her and my father – the phone now on speakerphone – in on the night’s events. “…and we have an officer posted outside our suite for the night.”

There was silence for a moment, then worry. “I think you girls should come home, Thea.” My mother urged. My head hit the doorframe behind me, exhaustion taking hold. I accepted the coffee Aly offered as she sat next to me and turned on the speakerphone so she could hear. “I know Mom, but we’re in midterms – Yes we could probably get an extension, but there’s no guarantee this will be over in the next few days. We need to stay.” She wasn’t happy about it, but she conceded. Our father’s voice filled the space next. “I can be there in forty minutes, do you want me to come stay with you girls?” I shook my head, even though he couldn’t see me. “We have campus police outside our door and city police coming in the morning, we’ll be fine. You can stop by after work tomorrow and look the dorm over if you want, we’ll be back from classes around four.” He wasn’t happy about the idea of his children in danger while he was far away, but he acquiesced as well, promising to be at the dorms at four the next day.

We talked to our parents for a while before ending the call, our energy for discussion more than used up. We sat in silence for some number of minutes after that, emotionally, mentally, and physically worn out from the bad thriller that had become our lives. We eventually went to bed, knowing we at least needed to rest before our tests the next day. I double-checked the lock on the window and pushed the dresser behind the door for the sake of my own sanity before we did though.

The next day passed in some mockery of normalcy. We went to class, and took our tests; the lock on our suite door was changed out for a new one – just in case – and we spoke to city police, giving them everything we had or knew. When 4 PM came, we met our father in the lobby and he spent at least half an hour checking every inch of our suite, our rooms, and the hall outside our suite to make sure no one could get in. He offered to stay again, but we urged him to go back home and help Mom with our younger siblings. We could tell he didn’t really want to, but after making us swear to call the police and then mom and him if the slightest thing happened, he gave us each a hug and started home. I was almost surprised he hadn’t insisted on spending the night on the floor outside my door.

Another and night passed, and to our surprise, there was no rattling of the doorknob or any other indication of a foreign person. When we talked about it, we both came to the conclusion that the lock was mostly likely defunked and that changing it had prevented our creeper from entering the suite. 

Well, give your creepy criminals credit everybody, because ours sure as hell got creative. Wednesday passed without incident, but then Thursday became a new level of cartoon-villain-you-have-got-to-be-shitting-me-weird.

We were settled in my room, I was working on a Religious History of Europe paper which was substituting for a midterm test in the class and Aly was studying for her Religions of the World test the next day. The noises started around midday, and at first, we ignored them, but once an hour had passed we couldn’t anymore.

Creepy, doll-box-like music was emanating from the wall next to my bed, just loud enough that you couldn’t drown it out or ignore it, but not fully blaring. I looked up from my laptop at Aly sitting in the center of my floor in bewilderment and she gave me the same look right back. The other side of this wall was an old staircase that was only used in fire drills and emergencies. When the building had first been built it had seen more use, but upon expansion, it had become relegated to a back corner that nobody needed to use. Normally I enjoyed having it on the other side of my wall since it meant I only had noisy neighbors above me, but today it was emitting creepy music.

“Who the hell would be playing music in an old staircase?” Aly questioned, and I shrugged. “I dunno. It’s rarely used, so I guess it would be a private space if for some reason you couldn’t use your dorm.” My eyes flitted over my shoulder to the wall briefly. “'Tis a tad annoying though, bit cliche too.” She snorted. “You can say that again.”

I grinned and she pointed a finger at me, cutting me off. “Don’t you even dare bitch.” I laughed and we returned to our work, this time slipping headphones on.

Three hours later the headphones came off and we both frowned at the noise still coming from the stairwell. 

“Okay, that is officially weird.” Aly muttered and I made a vague grunting sound in agreement. Sitting up straight for the first time in hours, I stretch, my shoulders cracking uncomfortably. “You want to go to the cafeteria or downstairs for food?” The cafeteria was a good 10-to-15-minute walk into campus, so even though it had more choices and better food, the grill and shop in the lobby was more convenient.

Aly thought about it for a moment, then shook her head at me. “Grill. I don’t feel like walking to campus, even if it means we have to deal with that” she shot a pointed look at the wall, “while we eat.” I grinned and nodded, slipping down from my perch. “Okay. Grill it is, and then we can watch a few episodes of one of our shows unless you want to keep studying?” She groaned half-heartedly. “Shows. I don’t think I can study literally anymore for at least a few hours.” 

I reminded her to make sure she had her card – since the ID acted as our meal ticket, dorm key, and identification – and her taser and knife, the latter two kept out of sight. I slipped my own knife into the pocket of the jacket I was wearing. Assured we had everything and that the doors to our rooms were locked, we ventured into the hall, scanning our surroundings warily as had become our custom in the last week. We paused outside the door and I frowned, looking towards the door to the stairs.

“Shit, that’s even louder in the hallway, what the hell do you think somebody’s up to?” I voiced my thoughts, and Aly came closer to my side to stare at the door with me. “I don’t know, but it’s fucking annoying.”

“I kind of want to see what it is.” Aly shoved me instead of hitting me upside the head on account of my migraines, but the message came through all the same. “We have seen this movie, and I would think both of us smart enough not to do the thing we yell at fictional idiots for doing.” I grinned ruefully at her. “Oh I know, and you couldn’t pay me to go in there, but that doesn’t mean I’m not curious.”

She rolled her eyes at me but agreed with the statement. We left the creepy music and old stairway behind as we headed for the lobby shop. We didn’t discuss it further, instead debating what show we were in the mood for. Ultimately we settled on Supernatural but chose to go back and watch some of our favorite episodes instead of continuing with the new ones. We watched at least four episodes, settled on my bed – Me with a breakfast burrito and her with a hamburger.

Four episodes, roughly four hours. Four hours and the music was still playing. I scowled fully in annoyance as I threw our garbage away. “You have got to be fucking kidding me! It’s been, what?, nine hours?!”

Aly shared my expression, and it almost seemed she was debating going back on her decision not to be the idiot in a horror movie in order to shut the damn noise off. “Can we call in a noise complaint?” My scowl deepened. “Technically no, not until we’ve gone into courtesy hours or quiet hours…which at still about three hours away.”

“Well fuck.” Aly eloquently replied. I rolled my eyes, at the annoyance of it all rather than at her. “Yeah. All we can do is use headphones or watch our show and try to ignore it. If it’s still going come night, then we can make the call.”

Forced to be satisfied with that, we went back to our show, but after another hour of the same god-forsaken music, we mutually agreed to switch to headphones and metal music as loud as we dared so as not to deafen ourselves or cause one of my migraines. When evening came a few hours later, I chanced removing my headphones, letting them curl around my neck, and began to curse without any actual sentence in mind. “Fucking shit, are you motherfucking kidding me, son of a bitch!”

Aly, seeing the expression on my face and knowing me well enough to make out what I had just said, raised a brow at me and pulled out her earbuds. Her curious expression turned to an annoyed and almost angry one when she heard it. “Motherfucking damn it!!” She added.

It was still playing.

I don’t know what we were planning to do, but a loud and insistent knock sounded from our suite door before we could curse further or do anything. We made our way to it with caution, looking out the peephole to see two students I vaguely recognized from down the hall. They looked pissed. Shooting a concerned and confused glance to Aly in warning, I opened the door. The girl in front of me started talking before I could, and yeah, she was pissed. “Are you guys playing that damn music?!”

My concern turned to mutual commissary and anger. “No, we aren’t.” I gestured down the hall towards their room and the stairs at the end of the hallway. “It’s coming from the fucking stairs.”

The girl looked down towards the stairs and then back to us. “Have you gone in there yet?” I shook my head and Aly spoke up from beside me. “No. And given that some sick fuck has tried to break into our room twice, we weren’t going to risk it.” The other girl's eyes widened. “That’s why the police have been here?” I nodded. “Y-ep.” I replied, popping the ‘p’ unnecessarily in my annoyance. I heard a muffled string of curses come fromm the first girl as she wiped a hand over her face. When her blue eyes landed on us again, she informed us: “I’m not going in there, but I am going to call whoever the fuck I need to to get campus security or whoever to make it stop.”

I sighed but once again nodded my head in acknowledgment. “Yeah, that was our plan too. You go ahead, if it doesn’t stop soon, we’ll give them a second call.”

With nothing left to say, she threw us a halfhearted peace sign in lieu of goodbye and they went back to their suite. Out of paranoia for their safety, I watched them go until the door to their suite was once again firmly shut, then we retreated back inside our own.

We agreed we’d give it an hour before we made our own calls. Thankfully the godawful noise stopped after forty-five minutes, so we didn’t have to. Even in this situation, we both hated talking on the phone, especially to strangers or officials. We found out the next day that there had been a speaker placed against our wall, but nobody had been there. It was unsettling, but we didn’t have time to worry about it. University exams really did have a way of making everything else seem minuscule.

We didn’t have to wait long for the final act in this nightmare performance to come to a close. Friday night, we mutually agreed that though we were anxious and unwilling to sleep as it would make us uniquely vulnerable, we were too exhausted to keep going on small naps. So we repeated the routine that had become normal to us over the last several days: Check the suite door, bring anything we might need like drinks or chargers into my room, check the window lock and shut the curtains, lock the door and push the dresser behind it, and place our weapons within easy reach of our respective sleeping places, along with our phones. Yeah, we were screwed if there was a fire, but hopefully, no psychotic murders or stalkers could get in. I’m not sure which threat we would have preferred to be honest.

We had laid down, each falling into a fitful sleep in the early hours of the morning, and for a short time, it seemed like everything would be alright for that night. But then, almost inevitably, I was jolted out of my light sleep by a sound that shouldn’t be there. In a quick but quiet move that had become far too practiced as of late, I slipped down from my bed, landing quietly next to Aly. My phone was in one hand, my knife in the other, and I set the knife on her bedding so I would have a hand free. I knelt down next to her and shook her shoulder as gently as I could while still putting enough force into it to wake her. She woke with a jolt, her eyes flying wildly around until they zeroed in on me, her mind rapidly trying to get her bearings. I held a finger up to my lips and then pointed at my ear. _Quite. Listen._

It only took her a moment to register what had disturbed me and she was up frightfully quick, her own phone and the taser clutched in her grip. I retrieved my pocket knife and stood as she did. For a moment we stood there, staring at the door in silence. This felt worse than the previous nights, something was clawing at the back of my brain and the pit of my stomach, some instinct screaming at me that this was somehow very wrong, but I couldn’t figure it out. Then it hit me.

_**Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.** _

That was the wrong noise. That wasn’t the clicking of the door handle, it was something else. A shiver ran up my spine, setting an uncomfortable pressure at the base of my skull that I knew all too well – It was the reason I never sat with my back to the crowd. That noise wasn’t coming from the door in front of me. It was coming from the window behind me. 

My eyes widened as I spun around, somehow keeping quiet, my gaze locking onto the blue curtains that covered the blind-less panes of glass. All of my senses seemed to be straining, fading out the rest of the room as they pulled the window into sharp focus. Aly eyed me strangely but quickly caught on, her ears had tracked the noise, and soon her eyes too locked on the window. Now you might think that’s a risky place to attempt to break in, but our windows faced the swamp and a little-used sidewalk, so despite the security lights, you probably wouldn’t be seen, at least not quickly.

This felt far more dangerous than the attempts to open our door had been. I had always hated ground floor windows, and this was why. Doors were at least solid and usually sturdy, but windows were fragile panes of glass with only a lock to deter whatever may lurk outside. Worse, we had barricaded the door, not the window, and while it was only a single dresser, it would take time to move and it would be noisy. If the would-be intruder knew we were awake and trying to flee, that may spur them to stop trying to open the window and simply break it, robbing us of precious seconds to get out.

My mind raced to weigh our options, and finally, it settled on the only reasonable course it could come up with. The police wouldn’t get here in time, and calling them would alert this person. We couldn’t’ get out quick enough, and there was nowhere to hide in here. Gritting my teeth, I latched onto the thinly thought out plan in my head. I turned and leaned into Aly, putting my mouth by her ear so I could hiss my plan to her. _“Take out your phone and record the window. I’m going to invite the fucker in. Make sure you get the bastard’s face.”_

She eyed me wildly for a moment, but then I saw the same steely resolve I felt reflected on her face. She pulled her phone up and nodded at me when she was recording. I knew the curtains slid away easily, so I wasn’t worried about that. I approached the window cautiously, now being able to make out the faint shadowed outline of a person through the curtains. Anger set itself deep in my chest, alongside fear. I set my phone on the bed so my hands were free, flipped open my knife in the other, and grabbed the curtain. 

I looked back at Aly to make sure she had a clear view of the window, and she nodded at me, phone in one hand, taser in the other. I gritted my teeth hard enough to cause pain as I turned my gaze back to the window. Quickly, I pulled the fabric aside, stepping aside with it to leave a clear view for Aly.

There they stood, cloaked in that same dark hoodie, something metal shoved in the gap between the windowpanes, trying to force the lock. The movement abruptly stopped as the curtain fell away.

I saw the surprise in the figure’s eyes, and something icy flooded my veins, a fury and apathy chasing away my fear. I knew it was showing on my features, ice-cold apathy and fury. At that moment, I hoped this son of a bitch who had decided to fuck with me and my sister knew just how badly they had fucked up. Because at that moment, apathy clutching every fiber of my being, I could have injured or killed them with no remorse. They were a monster, and I was fucking tired of being scared of the big bad wolf.

I leaned forward, placing the tip of the knife clutched in my grasp against the glass, the cold blade eye level with the creeper. I saw their gaze catch on it before flicking back to me. I don’t know what came over me at that moment, but if I could ever be cruel, it was now. I felt my lips pulling back into a smile without my consent, ice-cold eyes boring into theirs.

“Oh don’t stop now.” I crooned. “Come on in you son of a bitch.” I said it almost softly, but I knew they could hear me through the glass. Their surprise turned to alarm, and in the space of a breath, they had turned and fled.

I leaned back from the window, pulling the curtain closed. All at once, all the emotions and the weariness came flooding back, making me stumble and clutch the desk for support. My apathy is a fleeting thing, a defense mechanism, and when it falls, the rest of my responses threaten to drown me. I set the knife down on the desk I was now leaning against and looked up at Aly, she was switching the light on, and the sudden brightness making me wince. 

I let my head drop forward, rubbing at my eyes. “Fucking hell.” I spat, “Did you get it, Al?”

She was next to me now, and I vaguely saw her phone being lifted up in my peripheral. “Yeah, I got it, and I got their face. T, it was-“

I cut her off with a snort. “Yeah, I know. I saw her face.” My hand dropped and I raised my now exhausted gaze to meet my sisters. “ Fucking, Ginette.”

I shook my head in exasperation. “I don’t know why though.” Aly didn’t comment, merely raised her phone and dialed a number. I didn’t have to wait long to find out who the call was to as she identified herself and me to the campus police and told them what had happened.

The police were there in a few minutes, first the campus police, then city police just a few minutes after them. We heard them enter the suite and identify themselves. I snorted wryly as I pushed away from the desk, Aly moving to help me push the dresser away from the door. It said something that I could recognize Officer Bailey’s voice at this point.

What followed didn’t take long, in retrospect, but it was damn tedious, especially given that neither Aly nor I had slept well for the past week. The police questioned us, and Aly handed them the phone with the recording, while I made some crack about not charging me for the pocket knife, given the circumstances. The City Police Officer - An Officer Drew - actually cracked a grin at that, and she assured me that under the circumstances, nobody was going to push the issue. I declined to tell them that I kept the knife with me at all times, and had for the past three years. Let them think I had brought it on campus because of my stalker.

Aly and I both positively identified Ginette as the one who had attempted to break in, and though it was hardly more than circumstantial, we also made sure the officers had the photos from Tuesday night, commenting on the presence of the same hoodie.

Ginette had been found before the police had started questioning us, attempting to leave the campus but being stopped before she could get in her car, and the campus police had opted to detain her until the city police arrived, considering everything that had happened. She was formally arrested only an hour and a half later by city police, as her face was clear to see on the video recording. Apparently scared of the police, she had confessed. First to searching my things and vandalizing my belongings, then the attempted break-in via the door, then to trying to lure me to the stairwell with annoying music – yeah, even at this point, that one still took me by surprise – and then, finally, to attempting to break in through the window.

I’m sure you can imagine our surprise when Ginette came back to school a few days later with tearful, yet genuine, apologies and we learned that it hadn’t been her at all.

See, Ginette had an identical twin named Gina who had been around so little that we didn’t even remember her. Gina had long black hair the same as her sister. Gina had stayed with her sister for a week before the two had gone home for a weekend. Gina had been the one staring at me strangely, not Ginette. When Ginette had decided to stay home for an extra week, Gina had gone back to her school – Except she hadn’t. Gina had taken her sister’s school ID, and the girl living two rooms down from me hadn’t been my suitemate for the past six days.

The snooping in my room and the vandalism of my work had taken place the first week, which explained how anyone got in. Gina had slipped away from her sister a handful of times, while Aly and I were in class or while I showered. Since she was already in the suite the locked door wasn’t a problem, and my door – left cracked for Aly – posed no problem.

When Aly had moved into my room and we began to keep our doors shut and locked, never leaving the other alone in the dorms, then Gina had to get creative. She tried the door, two nights in a row, but like hell, we were going to leave it open or unlocked. When that failed, she attempted to lure me into the old and rarely used emergency stairs I shared a wall with, but as annoying as the noise had been, I’d seen that cliche horror movie too many times to count. Then she tried the window, and she had almost gotten it open but had made too much noise, alerting us. My patience had run out then, and apparently, I had truly terrified the girl. Too fucking bad in my opinion, she had terrorized my sister and I for nearly two weeks.

There was still the question of why though, but that was cleared up quickly enough. After a few hours with the police, Gina’s anger had made itself known – The incredulous fury that had lead her to all of this crap. 

Gina was a fanatic – A religious one stuck in the medieval ages to be exact. It just so happens that when she came to visit her sister, she came across my sister and I - My sister is a witch while I am a pagan. The pentacle necklace with a cat perched atop it that Gina saw around my neck was the first thing to clue her in. The many conversations my sister and I had – both students of anthropology, history, and religious studies – further convinced her of…well of what I don’t rightly know. Maybe she thought we were possessed by demons, or consort of the devils, or some other stupid shit like that. 

The crystals on my window sill, the research books for both class and my own spiritual path, and the drawings of things revealing a love of horror, an interest in the pagan deities and celestial bodies, and most damning – the portrait that so clearly revealed my genderfluid state were like a sentence handed down from a judge: I did not fit into Gina’s world, and there couldn’t be anything outside of her world that wasn’t a threat, that wasn’t evil. An LGBTQIA+, Pagan, Witch, with a love of Gothic and Horror aesthetics? The clearest case of malignant evil Gina could imagine.

Gina was arrested for burglary, vandalism, and a sentence of either attempted assault or attempted murder – Neither her defense nor the prosecution were entirely sure which it would be yet. Ginette was reprimanded for allowing her guest to invade the privacy of her suitemates and the loss of her card, but ultimately, she didn’t do anything wrong. She opted not to live in the dorms anymore though, I don’t know where she went, but she wasn’t there for even a week after her sister’s arrest.

With the matter over, I suppose I could have stayed on campus, but the incident was a bit too far for my nerves. My sister had already planned to move into an apartment with her fiancé of two years when the semester ended anyway, so when the pandemic hit, there was no real reason to stay. I made it through the semester and then moved back home. I still find myself wary of the windows at night, and the insistent need to check the locks at night, thanks to my OCD, has certainly heightened. But given the knife under my pillow and the state of my window nearly seven feet off the ground, I’m not too worried about a repeat. Even if she’s not confined to a loony bin or prison for the next several years, Gina doesn’t know where I live, and neither does her sister.

For all of you living somewhere with strangers, like a school dorm, I suggest you keep your doors and windows shut and locked. It seems you never do know who the hell is around you, or what trait may deem you an evil that needs to be removed from the world.


End file.
